Top 5 Best Family Guy Episodes

By Michael Mann

5. And Then There Were Fewer

Four of the people shown will never be seen again in Family Guy. Source: IMDb

Starting the list off with one of the highest rated episodes of the series, iit’s about the Griffins getting a mysterious letter from someone inviting them to a mansion. They find out that the person who invited them was James Woods wanting to make amends with everyone who he wronged (which included most of the main Family Guy cast and side characters). But, it then turns murder mystery when someone ends up dead. There are more and more plot twists as the cast tries to find out who the murderer is. One of the best things to come from this episode is that it actually affects stuff that happens later in the series. It gives some continuity to Family Guy, which is well deserved since it’s a show that is always criticized for having absolutely no continuity. I can’t actually think of anything bad about this episode, not even a half-joking statement. Absolutely nothing, it’s a solid episode and only here on the list because I just personally like the other episodes more than this one.

4. Star Wars Trilogy

Star Wars is one of the (if not) the most well-known successful movie franchises worldwide. Family Guy is a show that has been canceled twice and has slowly been deteriorating in quality. The Star Wars movies they used were the first three movies (Episode IV V VI), and it stars the Family Guy cast (Lois is Leia, Peter is Hans Solo, and Chris is Luke Skywalker) where they give the Family Guy spin on the movies. I found the episodes pretty funny, and it fed into my Star Wars obsession. I couldn’t really find much wrong with these episodes (other than shamelessly grabbing for cash by making Star Wars episodes). They are just really good.

3. Killer Queen

“Dynamite with a laser beam, guilty to blow your mind (anytime!)” Killer Queen, the first Family Guy episode I’ve ever watched. The episode is about Chris entering a hot-dog eating contest and winning, and his stomach starts to hurt so Lois sends him to fat camp to help him lose weight. The other plot is Brian buying Peter’s old record of News of the World so he can scare Stewie with the cover (pictured above). It was a pretty good episode. Queen is one of my favorite bands, and I like seeing it being mentioned in the modern age of terrible music.

2. Back to the Pilot

Ok, Lois may think that this death ray is a toy, that’s a reasonable mistake, but where does she think it came from? Source: Wiki

Back to the Pilot is about Brian and Stewie going back in time to find Brian’s favorite tennis ball, and the time that they traveled to was at the same time the pilot took place. Brian ends up having to go to the bathroom where he tells his past self about events that will happen in the future making the present change. It was a pretty funny episode, and time travel is always a plot I enjoy watching shows use. Although I really loved this episode, this is when I started to notice Brian becoming a terrible character. It is shown that the only reasons Brian even did some of the things to change the future were to become famous. Like when he stopped 9/11 he was full of himself the entire time, and it was obvious he only cared about the fame that will come from preventing the tragedy. But other than making Brian the second worst character (only second to Butters) in all cartoon history, I really love watching and rewatching this episode.

Honorable Mention: Partial Terms of Endearment

If you don’t remember watching this one, it’s (probably) not because of your terrible memory; it’s because this episode was banned from airing in the U.S. and, as far as I can tell, only available to legally stream on Netflix. It’s about the most controversial subject to ever hit the U.S.–abortion. The episode starts with Lois’ old college friend Naomi approaching her to become the surrogate since she can’t have kids. Lois agrees and becomes the surrogate. A little bit later on in the episode the couple who asked Lois to be a surrogate died in a car crash leaving Lois with the choice whether or not to get the baby aborted. Yeah, anyone that lives in this country should know why this would cause a lot of controversies. The only reason why this isn’t on the list is because Seth Mcfarlane, the creator of the show, made this episode to show his political views on the subject, and I personally don’t like hearing about politics in my mind-numbing television.

1. Road To The Multiverse

Brian is one of the absolute worst characters in modern family guy episodes, but when he is paired with Stewie, Brian’s actually tolerable. The episode is about Brian and Stewie going on adventures through different universes. There’s a reason why this is the highest rated episode in the series on IMDb; it’s really good. I always found the multiverse theory to be intriguing, and Family Guy’s spin on the theory is pretty interesting to see it play out. The episode includes many different universes such as the Disney universe (everything is in the Disney style), the advanced universe (the universe shows a more advanced society and everyone is attractive, even Meg), and my personal favorite, the universe where everyone has to go “number 2” but they are in an important business meeting. As you can probably tell by the universes, it’s comedy based as all of the episodes are, but unlike most episodes in the series, this episode doesn’t rely on the over the top cutaway gags the show is famous for. Sure it may have a couple of cutaway gags, but it’s not like the ten that are in regular episodes. The only bad thing I can say about this episode is some of the jokes can be dragged out sometimes (The universe with the two-headed people was a little bit longer than it should be). Other than that, this was a really good episode and I suggest watching this if you’ve never seen this before. You won’t be disappointed.